So really this is a week and a half in words, because I meant to start this series of blog posts last weekend and it just never happened. Ironically, I set myself towards writing a series about life and creativity and was too distracted by it to do so. Funny how things work out. I had a son turn seventeen, which sort of makes me throw up a little in my mouth. My youngest is seventeen. Gah! How depressing, while simultaneously amazing I managed to keep him alive. Go me! He tells me he plans to attend the University of Michigan, but only for a “superfluous” degree in business since he’ll make his millions on YouTube. He spent his birthday with friends, huddled around the dining room table with pizza and pop, talking about filing taxes and Obamacare, and I was absolutely positive someone slipped me a hallucinogen while I was distracted by beads. They grow up so fast. A series of unfortunate events happened these past two weeks, as well, though didn’t deter me from working. In fact, perhaps I was determined despite them. I can’t imagine a world in which I allow the unfortunate to dictate to me how I should behave. Isn’t there a saying about defining oneself by ones reactions to problems, not by the problem itself? Or something. I’m sure it’s a Benjamin Franklin quote. Or an Adele song. And it’s almost certainly a meme on Facebook. But these misfortunes made me question the role creativity had in my life these past three weeks (months even) and appreciate it. Appreciate what an outlet it is for frustration, sadness or stress. That with wire and beads, I can transform even the most upsetting or unexpected plethora of news and events into something, if not joyous, at least acceptable. I can allow the despondency that settles inside to flow from my hands, through the metal, then out. Out into the universe. The ether. Whatever word there is for that other place, no longer internalized and damaging. At least out there, it can attach itself to happiness released by others and be transformed, and allow me the same transformation by the absence of it. And then my heart has room for happiness as well, which is also released into the universe, and it cycles through the same symbiotic process, the same collective of emotions we all experience. Now try to imagine a world without creativity. I know, right? It’s like someone just killed a unicorn. All the magic is gone. So today, right now, I charge you with this: create. Anything at all. Cook, draw, write, garden, but release your emotions, whatever they are, into the ether. And maybe someday my emotions will meet them there. Nicole